Pickup advice for my strat build

[DeltyVQ]

Heya guys. I haven't began my build juuust yet but all the parts have been ordered, being made and I'm hoping on getting them soon. Before that happens I would appreciate some opinions on what pickups I should install into it.
I'll list off the parts, I'm hoping there are some knowledgeable heads that know their tonewood and stuff. Because after doing research, the world wide interwebs is suggesting that this guitar is gonna sound very bright.

Chambered strat body
25-1/2
Universal route
Flame Maple on roasted Swamp Ash
2TEK bridge

Modern construction neck
Roasted Maple neck with Ebony fretboard
Stainless SS6105 frets
GraphTech TUSQ XL Earvana Nut
No finish

The pickguard I ordered has space for a P90 in the neck and a Trembucker in the bridge.
Original thoughts were a JB TB4 in the bridge with a Custom P90 in the neck. I'm gonna try and get the SD custom shop to colour the JB with purple & black bobbins, no logo and black nickel hardware but was thinking on also asking them to age the pickup if you guys think it may end up being a bit too bright.

Thanks in advance

 

[Cagey]

An Ebony over Maple neck doesn't eat high end like some necks do, so the guitar will be a tad brighter than some. But, not annoyingly so. It's just going to be articulate, which is a Good Thing. The JB, being a humbucker, has less high end than single coils do, and a P90's response curve I think is somewhere between humbuckers and traditional single coils. So, my expectation would be that this guitar would have a fairly even/flat response that will be easy to work with. 

Personally, I've not had good luck mixing single coils and humbuckers on the same guitar. They each sound fine on their own, but when combined I'm not so impressed. Might be what I've used, but I've tried several combinations and it's always the same story. But, that's just me. A lotta people do it, so it can't be all bad. Plus, even though a P90 is a single coil, it's kinda its own thing.

In any event, no matter what any given pickup sounds like in somebody else's guitar, it isn't going to sound the same in yours. You won't know what you're gonna get until you wire something in and crank it up.

 

[fdesalvo]

What KG said.

The neck and bridge of choice will produce a bright fundamental tone.  I'd look for some pickups that emphasize lower mids to balance things out.

 

[DeltyVQ]

Gonna chuck a SD Hot P90 onto the neck in that case and try and see if that will work nicely. I have the custom JB TB-4 coming through from SD in a month or so.
Couple of questions for you guys on the forum though. If I installed that pickup into my guitar alongside the JB, would the P90 stop humming when I play them both together?
I was also considering making my controls 2 volume and 1 tone instead of 2 tone and 1 volume. Would you guys know how to do this? Serious n00b here.

 

[Cagey]

The P90 will still hum when combined with the JB. A regular P90 will produce an annoying hum. If it's a hot P90, it'll hum a lot. If you don't have a noise gate, now might be a good time to invest in one. The Hum Debugger from Electro Harmonix is highly recommended for eliminating pickup noise. For more general purpose use, for instance if you have effects that make noise, something like the BOSS NS-2 may be a better choice.

 

[DeltyVQ]

Was reading into that pickup and it says that it would be hum cancelling when paired with it's bridge counterpart. Would there be no way for me to do something like that with it connected with the JB?

 

[Fat Pete]

Technically I suppose you could make a humbucker out of the P90 and the JB coil that is RWRP relative to it, but the P90 would probably just overpower the split coil so it's not likely to be sonically rewarding. (Also, because of the substantial difference in winding etc, the humbucking effect would also be substantially reduced.)

The hum cancelling effect requires a pair (or pairs) of coils to work, so three coils = hum.

 

[Cagey]

Perzactly.

 

[DeltyVQ]

Technically I suppose you could make a humbucker out of the P90 and the JB coil that is RWRP relative to it, but the P90 would probably just overpower the split coil so it's not likely to be sonically rewarding. (Also, because of the substantial difference in winding etc, the humbucking effect would also be substantially reduced.)

The hum cancelling effect requires a pair (or pairs) of coils to work, so three coils = hum.

I fancy experimenting actually. So if I just split the JB and connect that up with the P90 it should, in simple theory, work as a kinda JB-P90 humbucker mix?
May sound dreadful but hey ho, might as well give it a go

 

[Cagey]

If you're able to identify the start/end windings of all the coils involved and the polarity of the magnets so you can isolate the appropriate single coil from the JB and properly wire it to the P90, then yes, you'll get some amount of hum cancelling effect. But, as Pete as much as said and I concur, it's unlikely to be a satisfying exercise.